However, probably no team out there was more eager to get on practice field than Ole Miss. It’s where players can go to hear about run pass options or third-down defense instead of suits, sanctions and the NCAA.

August is a long, hot month. It’s a time the Rebels can use to put some bite behind their social media messages like “We’re still here,” and strengthen the bond they feel with the shared struggle of the grind.

The clear message right now is that amid the unknown of the investigation and its side effect of the forced resignation of coach Hugh Freeze is that...

University of Mississippi Chancellor Jeffrey Vitter, left, and athletic director Ross Bjork speak at a news conference about the resignation of football coach Hugh Freeze, in Oxford Bruce Newman/Oxford Eagle

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Ole Miss will meet with the NCAA's Committee on Infractions beginning Sept. 11 in Covington, Kentucky, according to documents released by the school Wednesday.

According to the NCAA's notification letter, athletics director Ross Bjork, former assistant coaches Maurice Harris and Derrick Nix and members of the school's compliance department have been called to appear. Former head coach Hugh Freeze resigned last month, and is not named in the letter sent to Ole Miss on July 21, though he is expected to appear at the hearing on the school's behalf.

Following the COI hearing, Ole Miss officials will learn what additional penalties -- if any -- the school will receive from the NCAA. Ole Miss has already self-imposed a post-season ban for 2017 and a reduction in scholarships.

Rebels contested several of the 21 infractions charged by the NCAA, including a lack of institutional control and head coach responsibility violations by Freeze.

Ole Miss is charged with 13 Level I violations, the most serious under NCAA rules. Former football staffer Barney Farrar is charged with a coordinated campaign with boosters to arrange impermissible benefits for a number of former players and recruits, including former Rebels All-American Laremy Tunsil and current Mississippi State linebacker Leo Lewis.

Ole Miss opens the season Sept. 2 at home against South Alabama, and then hosts Tennessee-Martin on Sept. 9, the Saturday prior to the NCAA hearing.

Allegation No. 9: The enforcement staff stands firm in its allegation that former assistant Chris Kiffin and former administrative staffer Barney Farrar arranged for about $2,800 in merchandise from Rebel Rags to be given to prospects Leo Lewis and Kobe Jones and Lindsey Miller, the stepfather of former player Laremy Tunsil.

The enforcement staff says that information it gleaned in interviews was “compelling and corroborative” and “showed the systematic way in which Kiffin and Farrar arranged the provision of free merchandise.”

Ole Miss has denied the allegation in its entirety, and Rebel Rags owner Terry Warren has filed a defamation lawsuit against Lewis, Jones and Miller.

Allegation No. 15: Lee Harris, owner of Funkys Pizza & Daiquiri Bar in Oxford, provided between $200 and $600 in cash payments and free food and drink to a prospect and friends and family.

The school has denied this allegation, but the enforcement staff says Harris made several statements that contradict the factual information in the record. They point to Harris’ phone records to prove he had conversations with Farrar, booster Arya Keyes, the prospect and his friends and family. These contradictions undermine Harris’ credibility, the enforcement staff says.

Harris provided documentation he says ruled out the possibility of him providing cash payments. The enforcement staff says the evidence he provided did not do that.

Allegation No. 16: A yet-unnamed booster provided between $13,000 and $15,600 to a prospect. Farrar initiated the contact and knew money was changing hands.

The school has agreed Farrar initiated the contact but says the prospect knowingly provided false information in saying he received money. In his separate response, the NCAA says Farrar disputes any knowledge of and/or involvement in this allegation.

The enforcement staff asserts that the prospect is a “credible and reliable source of information and showed himself to be materially correct and consistent regarding the information he reported.”

The enforcement staff follows that assessment by saying Farrar and the boosters “lack credibility entirely.”

Judge Dewayne Thomas ruled in favor of Steve Robertson and James Hendrix today, so John Doe's appeal has been dismissed. So Ole Miss has to produce the NOA without John Doe's name redacted within seven days, the ruling states.

[Six hours later]

John Doe filed another appeal, so it's headed to Mississippi Supreme Court.

It’s been a loud offseason for Ole Miss’ football program — an NCAA investigation, Hugh Freeze’s resignation and all of the national attention that has negatively affected the Rebels in recruiting.

But now, it’s time to play football. And Ole Miss interim coach Matt Luke is impressed with the way his team handled the eventful offseason, praising them during his appearance on The Paul Finebaum Show.

“I think these guys, they haven’t wavered,” Luke said. “They’ve been through a lot, and I think it’s brought them closer together.”

While most talk surrounding Ole Miss isn’t about the actual on-field product, perhaps a surprise season from the Rebels could shift that attention.

“These guys came here to play football, that’s what they want to do. I think we can use some of that as motivation,” Luke said. “Kind of put the noise behind them and do what they came here to do.”

Ben Garrett of the Ole Miss Spirit is joined by former Rebel head coach Tommy Tuberville to discuss the challenge of the next permanent Ole Miss head coach in pulling the program out of probation, as he did in 1994, as well as his pine box comments, the recruitment of Deuce McAllister, the 'Payback' game, conflict between Tuberville and former athletics director Pete Boone and much, much more.

OXFORD — Matt Luke won his debut as Ole Miss’ interim head coach Saturday, leading Ole Miss to a 47-27 win over South Alabama.

It was a night Luke and his family will never forget, a day full of emotions culminating in a win for a really good man who has dedicated most of his life to Ole Miss. For Luke himself, Saturday was a day full of emotions. By the end of his first game, his voice was shot, his emotions visible when he was asked a question about his father’s role in his life and his career.

“It was a great night,” Luke said. “It was a lot of fun getting your first win under your belt. There were a lot of emotions early but once the game kicked off, I kind of settled into it. …It was very emotional coming through the Grove, very emotional coming out onto the field for the first time, but it was very, very special.”

When the game ended, the team assembled in front of the north end zone to sing the alma mater with what was left of the student section. A weary fan base finally got an opportunity to cheer.

But what did we learn?

Realistically, not much. South Alabama is better than UT-Martin, which will roll into Vaught-Hemingway next Saturday, but the Jaguars didn’t present anything resembling the tests that will eventually be administered to the Rebels. California won at North Carolina Saturday, and the trip to Berkeley looks more daunting now than it did in the preseason. Vanderbilt whipped Middle Tennessee. Alabama manhandled Florida State. You know the rest. There aren’t many breathers after next week’s cupcake.

What was important for Ole Miss Saturday was the Rebels played football and played well enough to win easily. A program that has endured a summer one wouldn’t wish on his/her worst enemy emerged to begin a new season with a good feeling.

None of the kids wearing red on gray on the field Saturday night caused the NCAA woes that hang over the program this fall. Luke’s name is nowhere to be found in the notice of allegations Ole Miss will have to address in Covington, Kentucky, in eight days.

Adversity looms, both on and off the field. Everyone around the program knows that. Uncertainty is a constant companion this fall. Everyone is cognizant of that as well. Enthusiasm around town Saturday was mostly forced or non-existent.

On Saturday night, however, at least for one night, all of that potential disaster and all of those anxious thoughts were pushed to the back burner, a least a little bit.

A native son fulfilled a lifelong dream. A star quarterback and his touted receiving corps did their thing. The Rebels won.

“I told the players in the locker room after the game, it’s not about me,” Luke said. “It’s about us as a family and doing things together. Nobody cares who gets the credit. We have a blue-collar mentality. These kids have been through a lot and I want to make sure the credit goes to them.”

In a season where wins aren’t guaranteed and significant loss is certainly possible, Ole Miss enjoyed a nice moment. For one night, that was enough.

It’s not entirely clear who is upset with who or for what reason, but certainly some punches are thrown. It gets especially intense about halfway through when some of them appear to gang up on the kid in the jersey. He then gets up and begins kicking near the top of the stands with security nowhere in sight.

Meanwhile, as is usually the case, everyone is trying to hold everyone else back but by the time the video begins the whole scene has escalated past that point. Even worse are the girls involved in the middle of it telling all the guys to stop when nobody is listening. The video cuts off without cooler heads prevailing as people continue to fall over the bleachers.

The last time the Ole Miss football program was placed on NCAA probation was 1994.

Over 20 years later, the Rebels are staring down a similar fate.

Ole Miss this week finally went in front of the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions following a near-half decade investigative process. The committee will issue a final ruling in 6-8 weeks, if not longer. Ole Miss self-imposed a one-year bowl ban for the 2017 season in attempt to mitigate penalties.

Uncertainty will remain as the COI begins deliberations over the next few months, with the program’s short and long-term futures hanging in the balance. Will the committee hold at a one-year postseason ban, or will Ole Miss receive another year? If the latter, will current players be allowed to transfer without penalty? Will there be additional scholarship reductions? Ole Miss offered up double-digit scholarships in its response to the original Notice of Allegations, as well as the amended notice.

Tommy Tuberville dealt with many of the same questions when he was named Ole Miss head coach Dec. 4, 1994. At the time of the hire, Ole Miss had yet to receive its sanctions. But once they came down, they were harsh — now considered among the worst ever handed down by the NCAA. The verdict: Four years of probation, two-year postseason ban, one-year TV ban, loss of 24 scholarships and a reduction of official recruiting visits from 56 to 40.

“It was tough. I can remember after about the first two months going, ‘What have I gotten myself into?’ I didn’t really realize how bad it was going to be because we had not received our sanctions,” Tuberville said. “Coming from Texas A&M and Miami (Fla.), heck, I hadn’t lost five games in 10, 12 years. Coming into that situation, it was tough. I didn’t know a lot about probation, I didn’t know a lot about sanctions. When they took our scholarships away from us — half of them for two years — that was really a shock.

“But the big thing was/is, too, is as soon as you go on probation, other schools came in like thieves in the night. They set up hotel rooms and started interviewing our players, and they can do that. We were very fortunate. To my recollection, I think we lost two. Our coaches did a good job of selling the program over — telling them what we’re going to do, how we’re going to do it, how we’re going to overcome the obstacles in front of us. We had to re-sell the football players on the team first, and then we went out and started recruiting 13 scholarships for the first two years, which wasn’t a whole lot. It was some tough times. But Ole Miss was great. The people were outstanding. They wanted the program to survive. Just in a four-year period when we got there, we were averaging 19,000 a game. When we left, we were averaging almost 50,000 a game. That was because of the fans. They wanted a football program and they wanted it to be strong. They supported us 110 percent. The coaches did a great job, the administration was behind us and we set everything up. I was really proud of everything that went on there for four years. We weren’t great, but we survived and went to a bowl game or two and had a lot of fun.”

Ole Miss’ fate won’t be known for a while, but rumors and speculation are sure to run rampant. And the possibility, however likely or remote, of current players on the roster potentially transferring is sure to act as an unavoidable cloud looming overhead.

With a three-game homestand coming up, if the Rebels are realistically going save their season, now is the time.

"Awesome, home-field advantage ... getting to go through The Grove, it's going to be huge," Matt Luke said after Ole Miss' 44-23 loss to Auburn Saturday. "This is big, it'll be big for us. ... Our team needs to show up and we need to defend our home."

The fact the games are Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, where Ole Miss is 2-0 this season, is nice for the Rebels, but they're helped more by which teams those games are against.

The stretch starts with a game against Vanderbilt, which has lost three consecutive games —

Multiple sources with knowledge of the situation told the Clarion Ledger that the university received its 24-hour notice of an NCAA Committee on Infractions ruling Thursday morning.

A years-long NCAA investigation resulted in 21 allegations, including 15 Level I violations, against Ole Miss’ football program. The university will receive the committee’s ruling at 8:30 a.m. Friday and the decision will be made public later in the morning.

Other involved at-risk parties, such as Hugh Freeze, Barney Farrar and Chris Kiffin, will be informed of the decision and any penalties at the same time as Ole Miss.

I feel they got off light. Should have gotten a 5 year ban from football across the board. Boosters apparently get no penalty, so take football away from them, then they will feel it. Let the players transfer, except those that took benefits. Those should forfeit their eligibility for football and be allowed to continue their education at Ole Miss per their scholarship. Make them just regular students.

Oxford Eagle printed Friday morning with a one-word headline — HAMMERED — at the font size once reserved for the winning of world wars. One of the local liquor stores put yard signs out front telling customers to come in and “get more hammered than Ole Miss football did.”

Bjork was as angry as I have seen him in public in the nearly six years he has been an AD.

“We are shocked that they found (MSU linebacker Leo Lewis, the NCAA’s star witness) credible,” Bjork said at one point.

So no, the NCAA’s handing out of penalties to Ole Miss football on Friday for a five-year investigation into academic fraud, booster misconduct and the paying of one player did not go over well in Oxford.

The overall sum of the penalties is bad — Ole Miss will miss two-straight bowl seasons (and an estimated $16 million in bowl payouts), end up with 13 scholarships reduced and have had its name and reputation dragged through every bit of the mud. But of everything that was announced Friday the only part new to Ole Miss was the second-year bowl ban.

NCAA’s biggest punishment in all of this may end up being the length of the investigation, and its ripple effects. This whole thing has taken five years, affected multiple recruiting classes and took a program off the high of a Sugar Bowl and descended it into SEC mediocrity.

Ole Miss does deserve some responsibility for this thing going on as long as it did —

According to the public report released Friday morning, the NCAA gave Ole Miss an additional postseason ban for 2018, stripped the school of two additional scholarships, put it on probation until Nov. 30, 2020 and forced the vacation of wins. Ole Miss had already self-imposed a bowl ban for 2017, along with a reduction of 11 scholarships over a total of four years (the total is now 13 after Friday's penalties).

In addition, former head coach Hugh Freeze was given a two-game conference suspension should he be hired before Nov. 30, 2018. Two former Freeze staffers, Barney Farrar and Chris Kiffin received show-cause penalties, meaning if they are hired before those expire, the school must appear before the Committee on Infractions.

Farrar received five years, while Kiffin -- now defensive coordinator at Florida Atlantic -- got two years. Two staffers from the Houston Nutt era were also given show-cause penalties: David Saunders received eight years, while Chris Vaughn got five years.

Ole Miss was also fined $179,797 and must vacate all regular-season and postseason wins in which ineligible players competed. Boosters involved in the case must be disassociated.

Players who will be seniors in 2018 may transfer to other schools without having to sit out a year. That list includes wide receiver DeMarkus Lodge, offensive lineman Javon Patterson, defensive lineman Breeland Speaks and cornerback Ken Webster, but not quarterback Shea Patterson, offensive lineman Greg Little or wide receiver A.J. Brown, all of whom are true sophomores.

Ole Miss will appeal the 2018 bowl ban.

Ole Miss was charged with 21 violations -- 15 of them considered major, with some dating back to the Nutt era (2008-11), but most related to Freeze's tenure. Among the allegations are improper benefits given to former All-America offensive lineman Laremy Tunsil and -- most spectacularly -- allegations of thousands of dollars in cash and other merchandise given to former recruit Leo Lewis, who now plays at Mississippi State (Ole Miss disputed, or flat-out denied, many of the charges).

Freeze resigned in July for personal conduct reasons tangentially related to the NCAA case...

Farrar has been hired to join Steve Buckley's coaching staff at Jones County Junior College, the Clarion Ledger confirmed Thursday.

Farrar was tied to multiple Level I violations during the NCAA's investigation into Ole Miss. The Committee on Infractions handed down its decision nearly two weeks ago, and for his involvement in the allegations Farrar was hit with a five-year show cause penalty, which hampered his job prospects at the NCAA level.

An NCAA program would have to "show cause" for why they shouldn't be penalized for hiring Farrar and explain how they planned to monitor him going forward.